KLA Newsletter - Summer 2017

NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2017

Learning without Limits Summer 2017.indd 1

13/07/2017 10:12

Welcome It is a great pleasure for me to be writing this introduction to our Summer 2017 newsletter as King’s Lynn Academy’s Acting Principal. Since my arrival in early March I have made it a priority to get to know as many of our amazing students as I can, and to be as accessible as possible to our parents, families and the local community. I would like to thank our students for the way they have welcomed me back into the school, and to all those parents I have met and spoken with for their consistent support of our work. This really is a very special school, and the strong relationships between staff, pupils and parents are clearly important to everyone here.

One of the things that has consistently impressed me in the short time I have led the school has been the huge commitment of our staff to supporting pupils to be happy, safe and successful. All of our team work exceptionally hard – teachers, student support, site and admin teams – and I would like at the end of this often unsettling and difficult year to place on record my sincere gratitude to each and every member of staff for the commitment and dedication they show in the course of every single working day.

Throughout this newsletter you will read about many exciting initiatives, opportunities and events that our students have been able to benefit from and enjoy. As I write this, I am sitting in a school that has been transformed into a 5 star venue for our Year 11 prom this evening by a team of staff who were, frankly, scarily organised in their determination to make everything perfect for our Year 11s big night – special thanks go to Mrs Defty, Miss Adcock, Mrs Thomas and the site team. Now that the exams are over, and the revision and hard work can be put to one side for a little while, we celebrate the end of an important part of their lives, and look forward with them to the next exciting phase to come. We will miss the Class of 2017 enormously, and would like to wish them huge success and future happiness!

At the other end of the school, our newest arrivals have been getting used to their new surroundings with a series of transition events for Year 6 pupils joining us in September. I am grateful to both Miss Tea and Mrs Germaney who have been working exceptionally hard to try to make sure that those students beginning their secondary school careers in September are as well-catered for as those Year 11 students who are preparing for the end of theirs.

My arrival at KLA coincided with a very difficult inspection report being published, and the Trust that governs the academy has made its response and expectation very clear; we are all working together to ensure that KLA is judged as a ‘good’ school by its next Ofsted inspection. Much hard work has been done already to try to make this possible, and I will write to parents in September with a fuller outline of exactly what we have been doing to ensure this is achieved, but I wanted to share two key things we are planning now for September.

Firstly, our approach to homework is being revisited. We are aware of some lack of co-ordination in how we have been setting and collecting homework, and a new homework timetable will be put in place to make this much clearer for students and parents. Secondly, we will introduce new ‘Curriculum Overviews’ for each subject in each year, and publish these on our website so everyone knows exactly what the curriculum will cover, as well as the sequence of learning in each term. Our hope is that by doing so we will be able to better share with you the expected pathway for learning in every key subject, and parents will be more able to follow and discuss the learning taking place at home.

Finally, I would like to take the chance to wish everybody connected with KLA a happy, restful and above all, safe summer break. We look forward to hearing all of your holiday adventures in September!

Alan Fletcher Acting Principal

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TEACHING, LEARNING & ASSESSMENT As we come to the end this academic year, I think it is important to recognise the efforts of all the staff and students at King’s Lynn Academy. This has been at times a difficult year, however, I am eternally grateful for the way that everyone has come together to ensure that we continue to drive the school to where it needs to be. Although it has been hard work over the last few months in particular, there are exciting times ahead for the academy. Key to this is the effort and support of students, staff and parents and we look forward to a fantastic 2017-2018.

As well as leading the academy alongside Mr Fletcher and the leadership team, I have been leading on Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

My approach has been to look at how we can continue to develop the teaching staff and ensure that the students at KLA are able to learn independently and ultimately develop a love of learning that goes beyond the academy.

There are two new initiatives that will be launched fully in the new academic year. The first is a drive towards early intervention, allowing teaching staff to deal with misunderstandings or misconceptions as they arise and addressing immediately.

The second is about empowering students to develop skills to be able to learn by ‘Thinking hard’. This is based around embedding independent learning and using different techniques to maximise their learning in the classroom and at home.

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This will be combined with the essentials that we need to get right on a day to day basis. This includes marking and feedback of student work, high quality regular homework and opportunities for learning for all.

As with all we do at KLA, I welcome any feedback and thank you in advance for your continued support. I will be discussing this further at Parent voice and look forward to being able to work with this group again next year.

I wish you all a fantastic and restful break and look forward to seeing you all in September.

Best wishes Barney Rimmer Head of School

13/07/2017 10:12

MAKING GOOD PROGRESS The most important job of any school is to provide a top-quality education for its pupils, and at KLA we know this has to be the thing we improve most quickly for all of our students. To complicate matters, we are of course in a period of massive change to assessment at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. This can cause confusion, so in this edition of the newsletter we have decided to make clear exactly what our assessment terms mean and how we gauge whether our students are making enough progress in all subjects.

•

We need to ensure that our teaching, assessment, academic support and communication with parents are all very focused on helping our pupils to progress.

•

When our students need additional support to understand key concepts we need to make sure that this is recognised and supported as quickly as possible.

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We use a variety of therapies to help support students; examples include booster sessions before or after school, some 1-1 support with time taken from other lessons, in-class targeted support or holiday catch-up provision.

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We know that it is far more important that students ‘keep-up’ rather than needing to ‘catch-up’, and this philosophy will be at the heart of our work in 2017-18.

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We use Year 6 KS2 test results in Reading and Maths, and the primary school’s teacher assessment of writing to provide a baseline for their secondary school targets.

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In Key Stage 4, it is important to remember that the new GCSE grades are not letters from A*-G any more, but numbered from Grade 1 (the lowest) to Grade 9 (the highest).

- The equivalent to the old ‘A’ Grade is now Grade 7 - The equivalent standard to the old ‘C’ Grade is now Grade 4 (although the new Grade 5 is considered a ‘strong pass’ and is expected to become the new nationally expected standard over time) - The equivalent to the old Grade ‘G’ is the new Grade 1.

Obviously with such changes we need to make it as clear as we can to all pupils and parents what we mean when we are sharing exam results, teacher assessments and reporting progress.

KLA approach to reporting attainment We collect assessment information for every student, in every subject, 4 times per year.

In Key Stage 3 (Years 7 & 8) we assign students an attainment grade related to their meeting of ‘Age-Related expectation’ (ARE); these are based on classwork, homework, assessment tasks and practice tests or exam past paper questions. Our staff report on each student’s current attainment on the following scale: •

‘Working at Depth’ The student is working at a very high level and at great depth in the subject.

(In GCSE terms this means that the student is on track to achieve a Grade 7, 8 or 9)

•

‘Working at Age-Related Expectation (ARE)’ The student is meeting our judgement of working at the expected level for their age.

(In GCSE terms this student would be expected to achieve a Grade 4, 5 or 6 in GCSE)

•

‘Working Below Age-Related Expectation (ARE-)’ The student’s work does not meet our judgement of the required level for their age.

(This would equate to a Grade 2 or 3 as a GCSE expectation)

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•

‘Working Well Below Age-Related Expectation (ARE- -)’ The student’s work is significantly weaker than the expected level for their age (In GCSE terms they are on a trajectory to achieve Grade U or Grade 1.)

In Key Stage 4 (Years 9, 10 &11) students are assessed as to the current grades they are working at on the GCSE scale (Grade 1-9). These are tracked against the student’s target grades – which we will be doublechecking over the summer to ensure that they are challenging enough for our learners when they return in September. We monitor the improvement in attainment in each subject and will share targets, current and expected final grades and rates of progress with parents and students, What do we mean by ‘Progress’?

Progress is tracked for every student from their KS2 test score. Progress in English is tracked from KS2 Reading Test score, in Maths from the KS2 Maths test score, and in all other subjects from the average combined Reading & Maths test scores.

‘Good’ progress is based on students making progress that maintains their KS2 attainment descriptor. The table below shows how we judge KS3 progress from each KS2 ‘band.’

Key Stage Three Progress from KS2 Attainment Bands KS2 Attainment

Current Attainment

Progress Indicator

Expected GCSE Grade

At Depth

Good Progress

7,8,9

High

ARE

Less than Expected Progress

4,5,6

(KS2 test Scaled Score 110+)

Below ARE

Well Below Expected Progress

Well Below ARE

Well Below Expected Progress

U, 1

At Depth

Excellent Progress

7,8,9

ARE

Good Progress

4,5,6

Below ARE

Less than Expected Progress

2,3

Well Below ARE

Well Below Expected Progress

U, 1

At Depth

Excellent Progress

7,8,9

ARE

Good Progress

4,5,6

Below ARE

Good Progress (but not yet catching up)

2,3

Well Below ARE

Less than Expected Progress

U, 1

At Depth

Excellent Progress

7,8,9

ARE

Excellent Progress

4,5,6

Below ARE

Good Progress

2,3

Well Below ARE

Not catching up

U, 1

Expected Standard (KS2 test Scaled Score 100-109)

Below Expected Standard (KS2 test Scaled Score 90-99)

Well Below Expected Standard (KS2 test Scaled Score <90)

2,3

How will we report progress?

From September, we will share progress reports with students and parents 4 times per year. These will clearly show targets, current levels of attainment and our judgement of progress being made. Where concerns exist about the levels of progress being made, we will work with students and their families to provide appropriate support to improve. We also intend to redesign our parent consultation evenings, as the current arrangements unfortunately do not allow for suitably in-depth conversations. We will communicate further about the new formats for reports and parent consultations in September – and we would be delighted to hear your suggestions and for parents to share with us what they would like these to look like from now on.

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13/07/2017 10:12

STUDENT COMMISSION The Student Commission now stands at over a hundred students and is working as hard as ever. As usual they have been incredibly busy this term.

One of the things for which they are particularly valued are the Student Commission Learning Walks. These take place each half-term and allow students to review the engagement and learning around their academy.

This has now been extended by the Academy Leadership Team being keen to work alongside these students in this role. Two Year 7 Commissioners attended an ALT meeting to present the findings from Mays Learning Walks. These students did fantastically well, demonstrating great courage and insight. We were incredibly proud. This has led to paired ALTCommissioner learning walks which will now become a regular feature of Student Voice at KLA.

The Commissioners, particularly those in Year 7, have done themselves proud over the last few weeks, supporting the Year 6 transition events meeting both students and parents. They did an excellent job of highlighting all that is great about KLA and its students.

With every event, job and initiative in which the Commissioners are involved they prove themselves more and more valuable. We are incredibly impressed at every turn with their hard work and determination to make this academy the best it can be. We always look forward to what comes next and this term is no exception.

AQA Unlocking Potential Mentoring Programme For the last seven months two of our Year 10 students, Megan Thorburn and Luke Hurley, have been working with championship sailor Sam Brearey as part of the AQA Unlocking Potential programme in conjunction with the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

They were nominated by the academy to take part due to them working hard despite challenges in other areas of their lives. The aim of the programme is to develop the young people to aim for and reach their goal.

On Monday 3rd July they attended a celebration event to mark the end of the programme and celebrate their community project, for which they raised money for the Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Society. They worked with other former athletes such as Joanne Jackson and Geri McLeod-Pratt as well as meeting other participants from around the country.

There was an inspiring message from Dame Kelly Holmes that no-one is good at nothing, there is always something that people have a talent for. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about identifying it, setting a goal and working towards that goal in everything that you do.

Luke and Megan really enjoyed their day and deserved to celebrate their work and achievements. They have clearly grown in confidence. Well done to both of them!

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175

NON-SCHOOL

DAYS FOR HOLIDAYS,

ATTENDANCE

MATTERS ON TIME. FIRST TIME.

EVERY TIME.

£60

F I X E D F I N E PER CHILD PER PARENT FOR UNAUTHORISED HOLIDAY

STUDENTS WITH GOOD ATTENDANCE

It is essential for every student that their school attendance is good and that they make the best of their time at KLA.

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With your support and our expertise we will shape our students into conscientious, enterprising young people with every opportunity before them.

11 FAMILIES

OUTINGS +

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300

With good attendance, learning really does have no limits!

O F

T H O S E

H AV E 1 0 0 % ATTENDANCE

FAST-TRACKED TO PROSECUTION

FOR NON-ATTENDANCE

ATTENDANCE

THERE ARE

HEAD BOY & GIRL To coincide with the recent General Election we held our, now annual, Head Boy and Head Girl election.

There were five candidates from Year 10, three girls and two boys, campaigning for their peers’ votes.

Each candidate spoke in assembly and visited classes to set out why people should vote for them. They all did incredibly well and there was a real ‘buzz’ about KLA when it came to Election Day. Around six hundred ballots were cast and the winners were announced that afternoon in the whole school assembly.

The new Head Boy and Head Girl are Lewis Dixon and Maisie Hancock. We look forward to working with them as leaders in their school!

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13/07/2017 10:12

ENRICHMENT CO-ORDINATORS

SUMMER UPDATE MARIO KART CHALLENGE 2017 The enrichment co-ordinators joined forces for the final charity event of this academic year and embraced our student’s love of video gaming by organising a gaming challenge to raise money for all of this year’s House charities. The video game selected was the classic go-karting-style racing game Mario Kart. Although first released in 1992, the popularity of this game is still unquestioned and we received great levels of interest from our students and teachers alike.

The students initially competed against other students in their year group before each winner went on to battle it out for the overall Mario Kart Championship. The students who took part paid a £1 entry fee and the tournaments took place after school Miss Carnell’s science lab with the game itself projected onto the big screen.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to welcome students who had given up their free time to be a part of this event and that do not usually access other extracurricular activities.

The Year 7’s in particular were very excited to see Mario Kart on a big screen and have the opportunity to take part.

So far we have crowned three champions and are looking forward to the remaining Year 10 tournament and the big final. A big congratulations is offered to Thomas Chappell, Lewis Kershaw and Aiden Pearce for their victories in the Year 7, 8 and 9 respective tournaments and a massive thank you is offered to all students who took part.

Although the money raised is still be counted we have been encouraged by the interest and excitement shown towards this idea and we are confident that a repeat of a similar event next year will once again catch the attention of the gamers we have at KLA and raise precious funds for our charities. Finally, all of the students wished to thank Miss Carnell for her efforts during the tournaments and for providing the games console and game.

Mr Endersby Enrichment Co-Ordinator

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13/07/2017 10:12

On Thursday 18th May 2017, King’s Lynn Academy hosted their annual Junior Maths Mastermind Challenge.

This is a competition for Year 4 and 5 pupils to show off their maths knowledge.

The event saw competition between Middleton VC Primary, Reffley Community School, West Winch Primary and St German’s Primary. Each of the primary schools came along with their own supporters to make up the audience.

This year’s participants were Thomas Garnett Year 4 and Reuben Lake Year 5 from West Winch; Demi Robinson Year 4 and Aarav Anoop Year 5 from Middleton VC Primary; Thomas Brewer Year 4 and Jaden Ellis Year 5 from Reffley Community School and representing St German’s was Lyla Mott Year 4 and Ryder Upcraft Year 5.

The individual Year 4 winner was Thomas Brewer from Reffley scoring 10 points.

The individual Year 5 winner was Jaden Ellis also from Reffley with 17 points. All the schools were represented by some excellent young mathematicians, who all did their schools proud. Well done to them all.

Each school’s combined totals were:Middleton – 12 points, St German’s – 18 points, and West Winch – 20 points With a combined total of 27 points, the overall Junior Maths Mastermind Trophy for 2017 went to Reffley Community Primary School.

The picture shows Jaden Ellis Y5 (left) and Thomas Brewer Y4 (right) both from Reffley Community Primary School, with their winning trophies and certificates.

Y10 pupil Mr Lewis Dixon was the scorekeeper for the event; Mr Richard Essex, Head of Maths was Questionmaster on the day, and presented the trophies at the end of the afternoon.

Organiser, Mrs Carolyn Fysh, Numeracy Coordinator at King’s Lynn Academy said she received some great feedback after the competition. “There were some nail-biting moments when the year 4 competition went into a very tense ‘tiebreak’ situation. The staff and students who attended all said the competition was great and they couldn’t wait to do it again next year!”

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13/07/2017 10:12

KS3 ROUND UP The end of another academic year has arrived! This has been my first year as Head of KS3, it has been a whirlwind and I have thoroughly enjoyed it!

Well done to all the students, we are all very proud of you.

It will soon be time for the Year 7’s to no longer be the youngest and mostly smallest in the Academy! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone and how much they have grown in confidence and have settled into KLA life.

I have been very busy working with Miss Tea on the Y6 transitions recently and have been very pleased with the students in KS3. They have been super helpful and have represented themselves and the academy very well It is also nearly time for me to say whenever we have had visitors. farewell to the Year 8’s, they will The Year 7’s had their parents evening be under Mrs Defty from Y9-Y11. at the beginning of this term, thank Although I will not be working directly you to all of the parents/carers that with them or parents I will always be could attend. It is always good to see here to offer support if they or you you all and everyone left with smiles. need it. I encourage all of them to work Year 7-10 students have been taking hard, be polite and take advantage of their exams over the last few weeks, every opportunity that comes their this is a great way to get the younger way! students prepared for the Y11 GCSE It has been a great year, see you in exams. By sitting in the big halls now September! they will hopefully feel less anxious in Debbie Germaney, Head of KS3 Y11 and will be used to the procedures.

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13/07/2017 10:12

KS4 ROUND UP

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Amazingly we are at the end of another academic year.

’s to ostly nnot gone n in KLA

Students have been able to take advantage of many trips and academic visits both in this country and abroad to enhance their educational and social skills.

say will Y11. ectly s be you work ge of their

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James Clark who took part in the local Armistice Day Ceremony.

We have enjoyed plays, celebrations of success in assemblies and acknowledged students who have achieved success in many and varied activities out of school.

I would like to congratulate Kaitlyn Salmons, who is a member of the King’s Lynn Field Archers Club.

In her first competitive competition, she won her category and the Richard Groves Memorial Trophy as the “Master Archer Best of the Best” as she scored the highest overall on the day.

Well done Kaitlyn we look forward to following your progress.

Isabella Thurnell for her continued progress in her shooting competitions.

She will be competing in the Home International, British Open and European Championships in Scotland in July, we wish her good luck.

There is always a hint of sadness at this time of year when we say goodbye to our Year 11 students. First we held a leavers assembly, where several tears were shed and later they dazzled at their Prom where fun and laughter was the order of the day.

Photographs can be seen at the following link: http://www.myeventphoto.co.uk/ event/7437/index.htm Suddenly they are no longer children but delightful young men and women beginning the next stage of their journey, we all wish them every success for the future and all it holds for them.

Jack Watts who’s hobby is restoring motor bikes. He successfully restored a 1996 Honda CR125. This was acknowledged in the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics magazine.

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I hope you have a very enjoyable summer, I look forward to working with you all next year and thank you for your continued support.

Bridie Defty, Head of KS4 13/07/2017 10:12

PE & SCHOOL SPORT P Cycling For the past few weeks the Year 7 on a Thursday morning have had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a cycling racing scheme. At school we are very keen to help pupils learn to live healthy lifestyles. Cycling is one of the easiest, cheapest and most enjoyable ways of keeping fit. That is why we have been incorporating the theme of cycling into our lessons this term to enable pupils to learn about the health and environmental benefits of cycling and the basics of cycling technique, road sense and bicycle maintenance.

The season has been a positive experience for the girls with some great results from the Year 7 and 9 teams. The Year 7 team have not lost a game yet, so fingers crossed for the last two games of the season. On Thursday 6th July we are taking a Year 10 mixed rounders team to St. Clements to take part in a tournament.

We look forward to seeing the boys in some rounders action.

The programme was a nationwide scheme which aims to increase the number of young people cycling to school and on other journeys. Schools are selected for their enthusiasm for cycling and the potential to increase cycling. The programme will end with a Cycling Race against KES on the last week of the school term.

Athletics

Rounders It has been a busy summer term for the girls Rounders teams. KLA entered the West Norfolk Rounders U12, U13, U14 and U15 leagues.

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On Monday 22nd May, KLA selected girls and boys from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 to take part in the West Norfolk Athletics Competition at Lynnsport. The event took place from 1:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6:00pm.

The event was a great success and an enjoyable experience for all students to be able to compete in their chosen event. We had some fantastic individual achievements, where these students 13/07/2017 10:12

T PE & SCHOOL SPORT

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will be selected to represent the West on Wednesday 21st June at the Norfolk Athletics Competition at UEA Sports Park. Well done to all the students that took part in both days and represented their school or West.

Successful Students Year 7 – Lily Turner Year 7 – Erica Charters Year 8 – Maksims Prohorovs Year 9 – Nikola Matisone Year 10 – Rudi Stevens

Year 8 Boys Football Team Plowright Cup Champions with a 2-0 win against Springwood The King’s Lynn Academy U13 football team polished off another fantastic season by being crowned the Plowright Cup Champions 2017. This is the second trophy in as many seasons for the team, following their undefeated victory in last season’s West-Norfolk Indoor 5-a-side Championships. King’s Lynn Academy and Springwood, both winners of their respective leagues last season, met in the final which was a highly competitive match.

Both teams did their schools proud during a fantastic afternoon of football hosted at KES Academy.

Following a strong start by KLA which saw them dominate possession, Alfie Harvey latched onto a precise long ball and finished confidently early in the first half. Although KLA did control the ball for the remainder of the half, Springwood did come out fighting after the break and drew two fine saves from the KLA goal keeper Summer 2017.indd 13

Thomas Beeby. Despite Springwood’s pressure, KLA secured victory with a late strike form substitute Charlie Cullen and held on for a 2-0 victory. The boys were delighted with their performance and would like to extend their gratitude to Danny Gay and Paul Taylor for their support leading up to and on the day of the final.

The team are now looking forward to the start of next season and hope to repeat their successes so far.

Rugby Officials Course On the 21st March twelve boys from Year 9 and 10 completed a rugby coaching and refereeing course. The first part of the course involved classroom based lectures and discussions regarding coaching and also how laws can be interpreted in rugby.

This gave the pupils a good understanding of how referees in rugby allow the game to flow as much as possible without stopping it, making it a much more enjoyable experience for all involved.

The second session included planning a rugby tournament for a group of Year 8’s that involved warm ups, skill practices and matches where everybody would be involved. Pupils had to think carefully about rules, timings and rotation of teams to ensure it was a fair tournament.

On the 25th April the pupils successfully ran the tournament with the Year 8’s. All the candidates undertook a variety of roles from coach, referee and match organiser.

It was a fantastic and well organised competition that every pupil enjoyed. The way the competition was organised meant that we saw some budding rugby players, that I am sure will be recruited into the team next year! All the pupils passed the course and are now Level 1 leaders and registered to referee KS3 school rugby games. Congratulations!

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SAFER SCHOOLS And there ends another Academic year!

Since my last piece in the newsletter I have been working at KLA and KES without Pcso Jonathan Cockerill. It has been challenging at times and frustrating not being able to be in two places at the same time when both schools have needed me. I think that I, and the relevant staff I link in with have managed it well though. My apologies if you tried to contact me, found I wasn’t at KLA that day and had to wait until the following day for me to reply.

I wish the Year 11’s well as they start on the next stage of their lives having now left. I have also enjoyed getting to know some of the Year 6’s as they have attended transition events.

I hope you all have a happy summer holiday. Please keep well and remind your child/children about keeping safe and behaving. Be it online, out and about, or in the local park, woodland, waterways, town centre etc.

Enjoy not being at school, but make sure their behaviour isn’t called into question by local colleagues which means when they return in September we will be having a chat!

I am working a number of duties locally over the summer holidays so I look forward to hopefully seeing a number of them and you out and about. If you see me please do come up and say hi.

Very best wishes PC 285 John Bolderstone

PSHE UPDATE Next academic year there will be some changes to both seminar time, and the Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) education.

We will be adding units on Child Sexual Exploitation due to concerns raised within West Norfolk, as well as units on new psychoactive substances.

New psychoactive substances – often incorrectly called legal highs – contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs (like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy).

Recent studies have shown that adults and teenagers alike have very little knowledge of these drugs or the changes in the law regarding their use and sale.

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During seminar time, students will once again remain within their year groups and will follow a programme of projects based upon developing skills needed for future employability such as leadership, organisation, initiative, reliance, and communication. Alongside this, students will spend one week per half term covering PSHE/SMSC topics.

Additional information can be found here: www.norfolk.gov.uk/children-and-families/ keeping-children-safe/child-sexualexploitation www.talktofrank.com

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Would you like to receive our weekly Parent Bulletin?

Every Friday we send out a Parent Bulletin via ParentMail, with news from the week and notices for the week ahead. There are weekly reports from each Head of Key Stage and regular updates from key staff members.

Lots of interesting news and photos are included about the academy and our students every week.

Tired of letters that never make it home?

All whole school and other important letters are sent via the ParentMail system, meaning that those parents who have registered receive these directly to their inbox.

We intend to send more documents home via the ParentMail system, to ensure delivery and to save money and protect the environment.

Have you downloaded the ParentMail App? By downloading the App you can benefit from the following: • See all school communications on one easy feed – so they don’t get buried in a busy email inbox.

• Receive school messages instantly – perfect for busy parents.

• Complete forms, permissions and surveys wherever they are in the world – easy to fill in and send back in minutes.

• Receive in app notifications – so you’ll never miss a school message again!

To download the App, simply visit Google Play or the App store on your phone, and search “ParentMail”

SMHW is an online tool to help you keep track of your child’s homework and is a simple homework calendar that KLA use to ensure homework is set and communicated to all students and parents.

Teachers use it to set homework quickly and ensure that students and parents always have the information they need about homework available via a web browser or mobile/tablet devices.

Some of the benefits are: • 24/7 access • Being able to view the quality and quantity of homework

• A personalised homework calendar is available for all users including students and parents.

• Translation into over 50 languages

• Once you login, you can only see your own homework schedule.

• Apps available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android devices

• There are iPhone and Android apps available for free for students and parents.

• Receiving automated notifications before homework is due

SMHW provides parents with a deeper insight into the homework your child receives. More importantly, we hope that it will improve your child’s organisation, time-management and help them to keep on top of their workload.

• Access to thousands of extra Collins exam resources in English, Maths and Science.

Homework can be accessed in the following ways: • www.showmyhomework.co.uk • There is no login required to see the KLA homework calendar. You can see homework that is set across the academy and then use the filters to find the subject teacher and group that you are looking for.

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Please note that presently we only use Show My Homework to publish homework tasks to students and parents. Teachers use internal systems to mark, record and monitor homework.

The Gradebook feature of SMHW is not used to acknowledge or mark students’ homework at this stage.

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Prom 2017 The stage was set, the red carpet rolled out, gowns and suits were purchased, hair, makeup and nails were immaculate. It was time for our annual Prom on Friday 30th June and how they dazzled.

Arriving in many different forms of transport from sports cars, a helicopter, lorries and trucks to name a few.

Delicious canapes, made by Mrs May and Mrs Lockey, and drinks were served pre-dinner. This was followed by the catering team led by Wendy Aldridge serving us all with a sumptuous meal and we were waited on by our catering students.

After dinner Mrs Westbury gave a brief speech.

This was followed by the awards which ranged from, the nicest smile, the clumsiest person who tripped up as collecting that award and the person likely to be famous/infamous. All were received with much hilarity.

Formalities over students and staff danced until the end of the evening.

It was a fitting and successful way to say goodbye to the Class of 2017.

The Academy was transformed by a willing and helpful number of staff to whom I am very grateful, as seen in the before and after below.

Photographs can be viewed and ordered at: http://myeventphoto.co.uk/event/7437/ Also towards the end of July the Eastern Daily Press will include a Prom supplement.

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@klAcademy Summer 2017.indd 16

13/07/2017 10:12